phil keating was with that crowd. he's live at the kennedy space center with more. hi, phil. >> reporter: hi. it's absolutely a bit of a some we some -- somber and melancholy day here at the kennedy space center, a lot of crew members as well as the nasa support staff currently having an afternoon soiree at the vehicle deprocessing facility where the atlantis is now booked. but after traveling more than 26 million miles in space since 1985, the space shuttle atlantis landed dramatically as the final space shuttle to complete a mission for the united states' space program. where we go from here? well, there's still a lot of uncertainty about that, but as far as the real uncertainty let's talk about the 9,000 people who will be losing their jobs now that the space shuttle program is retired. 3200 of those layoff slips come first thing tomorrow. it's obvious looking around cape